More than a game
by Akino Matoumiken
Summary: It began as a game. It began in the darkness. It began when nothing seemed to matter. A NejiTen Oneshot


Here comes my first attempt at a romantic light comedy of this coupling. My apologies, if the fic isn't that funny. I also warn you of potential OCC from the characters. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

It began as a game. It began in the darkness. It began when nothing seemed to matter.

In the tiny restaurant where they are known for their infamous ramen, or at least in Naruto's mind, a group of jounins and chunins were found discussing of important matters of the village, or it's at least important to them anyhow.

"Sometimes it makes me wonder if she'll die as an old maid, that Tenten." Sakura sighed as she took a sip of her drink.

"It's a shame too, because it isn't the fact she's ugly or anything." as Ino shook her head.

"I know what you mean, but they sure can be slow can't they? I mean I think just about everyone knows but them." Lee sighed as well as he took another gulp of his tea.

"Even I finally got around with Hinata-chan. Why are all geniuses such idiots? Sasuke, Shikamaru – "

"Hey!"

"and especially Neji." Naruto said exasperatingly as he took another bite of his ramen bowl.

"You'd think he's come around. Even Shikamaru was finally able to think that the world of women wasn't just troublesome."

"Speaking of him, here he comes now with Hinata."

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto shouted loudly as he pounced towards the two.

Neji being Neji, was escorting his cousin around today as they were shopping for things. As if a light bulb hit Naruto's head, a _brilliant_ idea came to his mind. He was never really a great matchmaker, but then again, he never really tried. Figuring that, if Neji got together with Tenten, he would finally be able to spend more time alone with Hinata without a pair of white eye glaring at the two, making them feel uncomfortable.

As Hinata, Neji and Naruto entered the restaurant, Naruto suddenly spoke up.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, who's turn was it already?"

"Turn for?"

"You know, the game we were playing." He replied winking and eyeing Neji.

"Oh, yeah, it was your turn to ask someone."

"Alright, so Neji, truth or dare?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know that game where you either tell the truth or you do whatever I tell you."

"Why do I have to do this?"

"Because, I asked you, and if you don't answer either, I'll pick for you. If you don't tell the truth, I could always ask Hinata-chan the truth. If you don't do the dare, you'll be known as the so called genius of Konoha that wouldn't even be willing to play a simple game of Truth or Dare without chickening out and you wouldn't want that would you?"

Annoyed with this idiot, he thought the faster he got this done, the faster he can get out of their sight and return to his training. "Fine, truth." He mumbled hoping this goes by faster so he can get out of there immediately.

"Alright, why haven't you told Tenten you loved her yet?"

Taken aback by the sudden question and wondering how he knew of his growing attachment with the weapon master, he kept his calm look and simply said, "I don't feel obligated to tell you."

"You haven't answered me. You either answer me or you do a dare."

'Anything is better than telling them that I'm afraid or that I am uncertain of what happens when I do.' "Fine, what's the dare?"

A mischievous grin grew on the boy and the bigger it grew, the more he was foreseeing a disaster in his hands. However, he wasn't expecting Naruto to tell his dare in his ear.

"I dare you to kiss Tenten on the lips for 5 minutes the next time you see her. Don't you dare not do it. I will see you. I will find you… There is no escape from me. I'm everywhere!"

With that Naruto laughed loudly and went back to his who knows how many numbered bowl of ramen while Neji stood there wide eyed for a few moments and grunted his infamous grunt, "Hn" and walked off.

"Naruto-kun, what did you tell him?" Lee asked him as he left.

"Oh, just wait and see next time you see him and Tenten together. We should follow him until we do."

"But won't Neji-nisan feel our presence?"

"Probably, but I don't care, until I see him do it."

Neji was walking towards his house when he suddenly saw an ANBU masked ninja who had a bun in their hair. Knowing exactly who it was, he quickly walked to his house and avoided eye contact with the ANBU.

Just as she was about to shout out his name, she noticed him running towards his house. 'This is rather unusual. Did he see me or something? Maybe I should have yelled his name out or maybe he had to go to the bathroom or something.' 17 year old Tenten wondered as she saw Neji making a dash to the building. To say she had not grown beautifully would mean you were probably either blind or mistake her for someone else. She was known as the beautiful weapon specialist of Konoha. She had recently joined the ANBU and this disbanded the team Gai. She had the curves of a supermodel created by years of training. She was slim yet not to the point of looking like an anorexic girl and developed lean muscles. Her ANBU attire accentuated her natural beauty and it was easy to say that most men who took a look at her were never the same again. She was able to pull all sorts of missions, ones that required combat, captures, murder, and she was always the first to be asked when it came to seduction. Everyone knew it, and many have asked her out, and yet she never went with anyone. Lee was saddened by the sudden choice but was glad when she mentioned she'd still try to see them whenever she could. Neji said nothing and all that really could be heard is Lee and Gai hugging each other and sobbing loudly.

The next few days proved weirder and weirder for Tenten. She had no missions as she was enjoying her vacation unless there was a big mission she had to attend to. Not only did she not see Neji the past few days but it was as if as soon as he felt his presence, she'd turn around and see nothing. It wasn't until the 5th day she finally saw him, in a rather aggravated manner to boot.

Tenten felt quite lazy those days. Maybe it was the heat of summer that was making her so. She wore one of her many Chinese shirts and decided that a skirt would be better than a pair of pants and left her hair down out of sheer laziness. The weather was unbelievably hot for a summer day of Konoha. She was in the forest just wandering around aimlessly when she noticed an injured puppy. She was carrying it around her arms and was walking back to the village and found Kiba training with Akamaru. Remembering that he was good with this kind of thing, she yelled out his name to grab his attention. Kiba had been known as a flirt, and to say he wasn't one of the many men that turned their head when Tenten was around would be like saying Shino had taken a like for reptiles and renounced his clan to study the life of a snake rather than his beloved insects. Despite the face Kiba was known as a flirt, he was a nice boy. He didn't really flirt with girls to the point that every girl that passed him by would be scared off, he only joked around and played along whenever they pulled him in. He was an easygoing guy.

"Kiba-kun, do you know how we can heal him?"

"I didn't bring anything with me, but looks like he has a sprained paw. Let's bring him to my place. You busy today or anything?"

"No, not really. Thanks a lot." She smiled to him as they were walking towards his home.

They were walking around the village and it was quite a quiet day except for the children playing around as most escaped the heat by staying in their homes. Neji was out running some errands when he noticed the pair. She was laughing at something he said and she suddenly stopped when her eyes gleamed. She took Kiba's hand and started to lead him to a shop window. Kiba surely wasn't expecting his by the look of his face as he was trying to keep the injured puppy from falling. Neji was unable to make out what made Tenten do that, but he sure wasn't happy about it. The sudden desire to tear Kiba to pieces for touching Tenten was becoming progressively more appealing. Could it be jealousy that was creeping into this usually unemotional prodigy?

He followed the two until he reached to a house, Kiba's house. He hid in the trees and waited. He wasn't the only one that waited. His overwhelming urge to do something about the growing "problem" made him unable to feel the eyes of many on him.

"What the hell is he doing?"

"You think he's just waiting until she's alone?"

"Who knows."

"He better do it soon before I have to jump in."

It wasn't until an hour later that Tenten was out of Kiba's house. She waved goodbye with one of her hands while she was holding a now healed puppy with her other hand. She walked away in the direction of the forest and it was then Neji finally made his appearance.

"Neji! I was looking for you for the last few days, where were you?" as she dropped the puppy down lightly.

"You were looking for me because…"

"Well, you seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth when I came back from my mission. Were you avoiding me? Why would –"

She was cut off suddenly by his lips that crushed her own. She wanted to pry him off, but he held her close to him, refusing to let her go. He was rough at first, but as the tension of her arms gave way knowing that she would not escape anymore, he softened as his tongue demanded entrance to her mouth.

Gradually, the idea of the game faded away. Gradually, light shone through the darkness. Gradually, some things started to matter.

"Woah, that was really random."

"Looks like I won't have to jump in afterall. He actually believed me?"

"What is it you made him do exactly?"

"He sure is making it longer than needed. I'm out of here. I'm going to get some dinner, like ramen or something."

"It's about time for the two. Who knew Naruto-kun would be their matchmaker. I'll have to tell Gai sensei about this."

It wasn't for another 10 minutes when Neji had realized that he hasn't been breathing normally for the past quarter of an hour until his lung finally gave out. It appears he wasn't alone as Tenten was panting as well. He sat down against a nearby tree when he recovered and smiled to himself as he licked his lips. Tenten was baffled at Neji's impulsive action, sat next to him and asked, "Why?"

"He made me -"

This was not the answer Tenten expected; in fact, a growing twitch was on its way as she was becoming more and more angry that it was the only reason he would do that to her.

"He made you? That's the only reason? You would kiss anyone because someone told you to do it! If I told you to jump off the cliff, would you jump?"

"He only said 5 minutes. But, it's not only because of this. What would you do if I told you I loved you?"

"You what! Loved me? What, don't love me anymore?"

"You are with Kiba, I saw you."

"Kiba was helping me heal this puppy. You still didn't answer me."

"My mistake, what would you if I told you I love you then?"

"Then I would tell you that you're a blind idiot that didn't see that I love you too." She said smiling as she leaned her head on his shoulders.

He touched her jaw and lifted her head towards him with his finger and kissed her lightly on the lips beneath the glimmer of the star and the light of the moon.

It ended as a reality. It ended in the light. It ended when everything began to matter.

-----

Fin

It just wasn't as funny as I wanted to make it… Oh well. I'll stick with Romance and General. Another fic of this coupling by me… Ideas are pouring for some reason. I'm debating whether to have a chapter filled collection of one-shots of this couple. Should I? Instead of having a bunch of fics as a new story even though each chapter is probably going to be a new fic. So, your thoughts? R&R?


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